Kirtland went into Saturday’s Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division showdown with visiting Cardinal focused on defense and dominating the boards.
The Hornets were successful on both counts and went on to win 55-30.
“It was a nice win,” Kirtland coach Bob Bell said. “Our focus was basically two things. We wanted to play good defense on Camille Cummins, and the rest of them, and control the boards. We were able to do both.”
The Hornets out-rebounded the Huskies, 40-20, and held Cummins to 16 points while the rest of the Huskies combined for just 12.
“She had a decent game but it wasn’t enough to push them into the victory column,” Bell said of Cummins. “Jenna Sayle guarded her most of the game in man-to-man with the help of Amber Yurick, who is pretty aggressive.”
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Sayle finished with a team-high 13 points and Grace Wolfe added 11.
Wolfe was even more impressive on defense where she pulled down 15 rebounds and held Cardinal post Brittni Lawrence scoreless.
“We matched Grace up on Brittni Lawrence because of the post position,” Bell said. “Lauren Lutz came off the bench and did a good job defending Brittni as well.”
Yurick contributed eight points, Lutz and Macy McIntosh both pitched in with seven and Lauren Snyder and Julia Camino finished with five and four, respectively, for the Hornets.
“We were pleased with our scoring,” Bell said. “We only had two in double figures but we had seven kids score. That means a lot because our bench is coming in and scoring points and our starters are consistent.”
Snyder and Camino shined on both ends of the court setting up the Hornets offense and disrupting Cardinal’s.
“I was pretty darn impressed with our one and two guards, Lauren Snyder and Julia Camino,” Bell said. “Between them, they had eight steals and only one turnover in the entire game. That’s good guard play.”
Ashley Gubanyar scored eight points for Cardinal while Adrianna Naples finished with four and Haley Domen had two.
“The team gave me a nice effort defensively,” Cardinal coach Luke Kruse said. “Unfortunately for us, we had a tough time converting shots against Kirtland’s solid defense and finished a tough 22-percent from the field. We had a nice push in the second quarter to get within four but had a few too many turnovers going into the half to get another chance to make a run at them.”
Kirtland improved to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the Valley Division. Cardinal dropped to 3-4, 1-1.
The Hornets host Cuyahoga Heights on Thursday while the Huskies host Richmond Heights on Wednesday.
Kirtland 55, Cardinal 30
Cardinal (3-4, 1-1 CVC): Cummins 16, Gubanyar 8, Naples 4, Domen 2
Kirtland (4-2, 3-0 CVC): Snyder 5, Camino, Sayle 13, Yurick 8, Wolfe 11, Lutz 7, McIntosh 7
Cardinal 9 7 3 11 — 30
Kirtland 15 12 11 17 — 55
Free throws: Cardinal 5 of 6, Kirtland 14 of 21; 3-pointers: Cardinal 3 (Gubanyar 2, Cummins 1), Kirtland 1 (Snyder 1); Rebounds: Cardinal 20, Kirtland 40 (Wolfe 15); Assists: Cardinal 4, Kirtland 7 (Camino 2, Greenlee 2)
